[OmegaRed1723]

That's a limitation from the ESPN site. Only the HLS streamtypes will provide an HD stream, and they're currently not working for everyone.

Thanks for the information. Is there a way to trick/force HLS playback? FWIW, I'm a Comcast cable/internet subscriber in the US.

[MetalChris]

That's a limitation from the ESPN site. Only the HLS streamtypes will provide an HD stream, and they're currently not working for everyone.

Thanks for the information. Is there a way to trick/force HLS playback? FWIW, I'm a Comcast cable/internet subscriber in the US.

We only get the stream types that ESPN offers. Fortunately for me, most events stream via HDS or RTMP. There have been some reports of stuttering and frequent buffering during HLS streams, but I am unable to view anything in the HLS format at this time. I suppose this is one of those 'Your mileage may vary' situations.

At the moment, there are a couple of events streaming via HLS:

Somerset vs Sugar Land (Minor League Baseball)
Venezuela vs Puerto Rico (Basketball)
Italy Junior Team vs Wingate (Volleyball)

From what I can see, it looks like all of the FIBA (Basketball) and UEFA (Soccer) events on the upcoming schedule will be streaming via HLS, so you should have an opportunity to see how it works for you.

[siuside]

Just helped a friend get setup with ESPN3 on a fresh install of Kodi (Windows). ISP is comcast.

Didn't have to do any kind of setup with settings.xml and freaking everything worked (HLS etc) out of the box. Went to the addon data folder to see what settings.xml looked like and it is the familiar format but the addon and espn3 populated everything.

This is totally ISP dependent. I am finally at peace with myself till we get the WatchESPN addon

[Arse4life]

720p streams are great. Watching euro qualifiers right now. Tried some replays and they work well. Just the US Open tennis matches can't get any of those to play and there are lots. No biggie.

[siuside]

720p streams are great. Watching euro qualifiers right now. Tried some replays and they work well. Just the US Open tennis matches can't get any of those to play and there are lots. No biggie.

Opposite experience here. Can play all the US Open HDS streams but familiar error with the HLS Euro Qualifier streams (ISP is TWC)

Who is your ISP?

[OmegaRed1723]

720p streams are great. Watching euro qualifiers right now. Tried some replays and they work well. Just the US Open tennis matches can't get any of those to play and there are lots. No biggie.

That's what I've been watching too. All the tennis matches are streaming, but at 896x504 resolution. I have a 65" 4k tv, so the images are a little fuzzy, but the upscaling on the tv is actually quite good. Would still be awesome to get a 720p or better stream though.

[Arse4life]

720p streams are great. Watching euro qualifiers right now. Tried some replays and they work well. Just the US Open tennis matches can't get any of those to play and there are lots. No biggie.

Opposite experience here. Can play all the US Open HDS streams but familiar error with the HLS Euro Qualifier streams (ISP is TWC)

Who is your ISP?

Comcast.

[siuside]

720p streams are great. Watching euro qualifiers right now. Tried some replays and they work well. Just the US Open tennis matches can't get any of those to play and there are lots. No biggie.

Opposite experience here. Can play all the US Open HDS streams but familiar error with the HLS Euro Qualifier streams (ISP is TWC)

Who is your ISP?

Comcast.

Comcast should work for all streams, so this is kinda weird. You can see the actual streams it is calling in Kodi.log and see if you get and INVALID_IP for the HDS streams.

[leejk]

Hi,

I'm getting a SMIL URL Blank error on every video now. They used to play fine... Is this related to the HLS stream issue others above have posted about?

Thx

[locomot1f]

@leejk

more than likely. but can't be sure without a debug file.

can you watch the US Open (tennis)?

[usphil]

@leejk @locomo1f
I can watch US OPen but not NCAA Football and some others, getting SMIL URL Blank error

[MetalChris]

Hi,

I'm getting a SMIL URL Blank error on every video now. They used to play fine... Is this related to the HLS stream issue others above have posted about?

Thx

@leejk @locomo1f
I can watch US OPen but not NCAA Football and some others, getting SMIL URL Blank error

The only time I ever see the 'SMIL URL Blank' error is with the HLS streams. The stream type varies from one event to another, but as far as I can tell, all the US Open streams have been HDS and not HLS.

Next time this happens, please post a log (wiki), and we'll have a better chance of figuring out what's going on.

[usphil]

@MetalChris

Here is my log

10:32:01 T:2344612928 NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:32:02 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Mode: None
10:32:02 T:2344612928 NOTICE: URL: None
10:32:02 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Name: None
10:32:02 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Generate Main Menu
10:32:02 T:2366633024 NOTICE: Thread BackgroundLoader start, auto delete: false
10:32:02 T:2366633024 NOTICE: Thread JobWorker start, auto delete: true
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Thread LanguageInvoker start, auto delete: false
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Mode: 1
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: URL: http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/watchespn/f...nnel=espn3
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Name: Live
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Indexing Videos
10:32:03 T:2344612928 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/watchespn/f...nnel=espn3
10:32:04 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread BackgroundLoader start, auto delete: false
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Thread LanguageInvoker start, auto delete: false
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Mode: 4
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: URL: 2630082,450316683,176-238982,184872013,HDS
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Name: 11:00 AM - (5) P. Kvitova vs. (32) A. Schmiedlova (Arthur Ashe Stadium) (Third Round)
10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: https://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/config
10:32:09 T:2344612928 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: https://espn-ws.bamnetworks.com/pubajaxw...d=domestic
10:32:09 T:2344612928 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: http://mlb-smil-origin-live.espn.go.com/...and=946273
10:32:10 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: rtmp://cp88998.live.edgefcs.net/live/ live=1 playlist=1 subscribe=espn3_c01_2200@s20814 playpath=espn3_c01_2200@s20814?auth=da.bvaiaEdtacaRbwcsdTcscBbCaPasdCad-bv6VZM-O-3xBnwMMCs-m9lgr5pdsWr8sYlfs7s3m3kercj6sbldm4ldrdo5r9q7r8&aifp=v0001&slist=espn3_c01_200@s20808;espn3_c01_400@s20811;espn3_c01_800@s20812;espn3_c01_1200@s20813;espn3_c01_2200@s20814&ct5=05-Sep-15&ct6=97.68.65.213&ct7=450316683:FMS_CLOUD&ct8=39&ct1=espn_us&ct3=verizon&ct4=espn_us&ct9=6a3ae1c44a224b66b351abed3c652d23
10:32:10 T:3043205664 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread DVDPlayer start, auto delete: false
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Metadata:
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: width 896.00
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: height 504.00
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: framerate 29.97
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: videocodecid 7.00
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: videodatarate 2136.00
10:32:10 T:2571588672 NOTICE: audiodatarate 64.00
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Opening stream: 0 source: 256
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Creating video codec with codec id: 28
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Creating video thread
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Opening stream: 1 source: 256
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Finding audio codec for: 86018
10:32:13 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Creating audio thread
10:32:13 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Thread DVDPlayerVideo start, auto delete: false
10:32:13 T:2344612928 NOTICE: running thread: video_thread
10:32:13 T:2344612928 ERROR: CBitstreamConverter::Convert: error converting.
10:32:13 T:2375021632 NOTICE: Thread DVDPlayerAudio start, auto delete: false
10:32:13 T:2375021632 NOTICE: running thread: CDVDPlayerAudio:rocess()
10:32:13 T:2375021632 NOTICE: Creating audio stream (codec id: 86018, channels: 2, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through)
10:32:13 T:2327835712 NOTICE: Thread CAMLCodec start, auto delete: false
10:32:13 T:2344612928 NOTICE: fps: 29.970030, pwidth: 896, pheight: 504, dwidth: 896, dheight: 504
10:32:13 T:2344612928 NOTICE: Display resolution USER : 1920x1080 @ 60.00 - Full Screen (18)
10:32:13 T:2726294592 NOTICE: 1Channel: Service: Playback started
10:32:13 T:3043205664 NOTICE: Using GL_TEXTURE_2D
10:32:13 T:3043205664 NOTICE: GL: Using BYPASS render method
10:32:13 T:3043205664 NOTICE: GL: NPOT texture support detected
10:32:18 T:3043205664 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
10:32:18 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Closing stream player 1
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Waiting for audio thread to exit
10:32:18 T:2375021632 NOTICE: thread end: CDVDPlayerAudio::OnExit()
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Closing audio device
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Deleting audio codec
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Closing stream player 2
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: waiting for video thread to exit
10:32:18 T:2344612928 NOTICE: thread end: video_thread
10:32:18 T:2571588672 NOTICE: deleting video codec
10:32:19 T:2571588672 WARNING: Larger timestamp than 24-bit: 0xfffffee2
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
10:32:19 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread BackgroundLoader start, auto delete: false
10:32:19 T:2726294592 NOTICE: 1Channel: Service: Playback Stopped
10:32:19 T:2726294592 NOTICE: 1Channel: Service: Resetting...
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
10:32:19 T:3043205664 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
10:32:22 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread LanguageInvoker start, auto delete: false
10:32:22 T:2571588672 NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Mode: 4
10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: URL: 2637264,,,184883863,HLS
10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Name: [COLOR=FFf5f5f5]08:50 AM - Poland vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina (Group Phase) (FIBA EuroBasket)[/COLOR]
10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: https://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/config
10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: http://broadband.espn.go.com/espn3/auth/...d=domestic
10:32:27 T:3043205664 ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 0, path [plugin://plugin.video.espn3/?url=2637264%2C%2C%2C184883863%2CHLS&mode=4&name=%5BCOLOR%3DFFf5f5f5%5D08%3A50+AM+-+Poland+vs.+Bosnia-Herzegovina+%28Group+Phase%29+%28FIBA+EuroBasket%29%5B%2FCOLOR%5D]
10:32:27 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread BackgroundLoader start, auto delete: false
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread LanguageInvoker start, auto delete: false
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: -->Python Interpreter Initialized<--
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Mode: 4
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: URL: 2637265,,,184883893,HLS
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Name: [COLOR=FFf5f5f5]08:50 AM - Germany vs. Iceland (Group Phase) (FIBA EuroBasket)[/COLOR]
10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: https://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/config
10:32:39 T:2571588672 NOTICE: ESPN3: get_html: http://broadband.espn.go.com/espn3/auth/...d=domestic
10:32:42 T:3043205664 ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 0, path [plugin://plugin.video.espn3/?url=2637265%2C%2C%2C184883893%2CHLS&mode=4&name=%5BCOLOR%3DFFf5f5f5%5D08%3A50+AM+-+Germany+vs.+Iceland+%28Group+Phase%29+%28FIBA+EuroBasket%29%5B%2FCOLOR%5D]
10:32:42 T:2571588672 NOTICE: Thread BackgroundLoader start, auto delete: false
10:33:02 T:2410673216 NOTICE: AddOnLog: PVR IPTV Simple Client: EPG file path is not configured. EPG not loaded.

[MetalChris]

@MetalChris

Here is my log
...

Please, only post logs via pastebin.com or other external means, not directly in the threads.

The tennis match is streaming in HDS format:

10:32:08 T:2344612928 NOTICE: URL: 2630082,450316683,176-238982,184872013,HDS

The basketball games are streaming in HLS format:

10:32:23 T:2571588672 NOTICE: URL: 2637264,,,184883863,HLS

10:32:38 T:2571588672 NOTICE: URL: 2637265,,,184883893,HLS

I'm pretty sure all the FIBA events and NCAA events will be in HLS format, so without a qualifying TV subscription, we're just out of luck there.

Hey locomot1f -

How about adding the stream type to the plot info? Unlike my previous suggestion to add an option in the settings to toggle whether HLS streams are displayed in the menu, appending the stream type to the plot info is an extremely simple, minor change to make, and would make some useful info readily available.

[jmbrew]

I have valid provider credentials and can view streams via the browser, however I can not view them through the add-on. How do i import those credentials into ESPN3 addon?